Project Valentine

1/31/2011

Last October, soon after I'd launched Look What Danny Made!, I watched a different horror movie each night and blogged about it - Project Horror! One Saturday evening, while the family was driving to dinner, I asked Courtney if she would watch that night's movie with me. She is not a horror fan, to say the least. I told her that maybe next time I'd do a month of romantic comedies and she'd watch some with me. I'm not a romantic comedy fan, to say the least. Conversation followed...

"You know, you might end up liking some of them if you give them a chance, instead of being a cynical ass."
"I'm going to blog that you said that. Part of the challenge in this marathon, since I won't be as into the movies, would be to try to find a lesson in each movie that I can apply to our marriage."
"Lesson 1 - you need to buy me more presents."
"I'm going to blog that you said that, too."
"Suck it, Holwerda. Blog that I said that."

Don't feel sorry for me. I married a redhead, I knew what I was getting into. Anyway, that conversation was the birth of the idea for my next viewing project, Project Valentine. Here's the thing, though: I cannot watch a month of romantic comedies. I just can't. If I'm going to do this for 28 days, it has to be at least a little bit fun for me, right? So instead, the theme has been opened up to all kinds of romance. As with Project Horror, I've split the month up into several smaller blocks. Here's what you have to look forward to!

February 1-4: Classic Romance
February 5-8: Manic Pixie Dream Girls
February 9-12: My Creepy Valentine
February 13-16: Dude, That's So Gay
February 17-20: Ugh, Let's Watch Julia Roberts
February 21-24: Sexytime
February 25-28: Heavyweights (movies that were suggested to me by multiple people)

And here's the rules I've set for myself:

I relaxed my rule from Project Horror about only watching movies I hadn't seen before. I will say that I haven't seen the majority of them. I mention this because I'm relying on the recommendations of friends and Netflix. Some of these movies may not end up fitting a strict definition of "romance," but I tried to pick movies that a person could reasonably watch and feel like they had watched something of romantic interest.
At least one movie per day.
Last but not least, I'll not only rate each movie, but I will also attempt to find a lesson for my own marriage in each one.

First movie is tomorrow night - get ready to be romanced by Danny, y'all.

9 comments:

Katie said...: So you aren't going to give us the list? What a tease!; January 31, 2011 at 11:26 PM
Ali said...: i think i'm in love with courtney.; January 31, 2011 at 11:27 PM
McCall said...: I dare you to watch "Fireproof"... And not crack jokes (like I was compelled to do). Great lesson, terrible acting, but it'll definitely stick with you, if you can stick with it.; February 1, 2011 at 2:24 AM
Anonymous said...: Can't wait... couldn't read the horror stuff because I'm a scaredy cat. Given your feelings about this - you should watch "Love Stinks" with the superbadass French Stewart (I KNOW, right??). One of the all time best fart scenes in movie history. You can't go wrong with that. xoxo, Laura; February 1, 2011 at 7:04 AM
Will Meekin said...: If you decide to add "Love Actually" to the lineup plan ahead. Netflix must only have 1 copy in circulation, because it was "very long waited" at the head of my queue for more than a month.

Yes. I selected "Love Actually" without a movie blog pretext. Go ahead, get it over with.; February 1, 2011 at 10:47 AM
Will Meekin said...: But I should have opened with a) I'm very excited you're starting another project. Project Horror was great. And b) I'm pretty jealous you've come up with another great pretext for watching and writing about a bunch of movies.

Looking forward to seeing what Danny made.; February 1, 2011 at 11:20 AM
Danny said...: Katie - I'm stingy like that. Plus, it's the showman's instinct in me. If you do a slow reveal, more people stick around.

Ali - I remember an entry on your blog where you had a similar conversation with your man about blogging things he'd said. I'm sure she's going to question my memory of this convo, but I actually wrote it down that night, with the full intention of pulling it back out later. But yeah, she's awesome and manages to keep me in check, no easy task.

McCall - I've already set the titles for the month, but I'll check that out sometime. I'll approach it in the spirit you prescribe, because I have to admit that I think Kirk Cameron is a clown, but I'll still give it a chance.

Will - I considered that movie, and actually ruled it out for that very reason. If I'm doing one a day, I can't have Netflix messing up my shipping dates. No mockery from me - "About A Boy" won a lifelong pass for Hugh Grant in my book, so I'll see just about anything he's in. I do think it's funny, though, that on the episode of "The Office" when Kelly is explaining to Ryan how Netflix works, that's the exact movie she uses as an example.; February 1, 2011 at 1:43 PM
scumdog steev said...: Interesting choice for a project. I'm jumping into the reading a little late, but definitely interested in what you've got in store.; February 7, 2011 at 8:33 AM
Danny said...: Thanks Steve! After Project Horror, I thought that maybe Look What Danny Made! should do a little something for... the ladies. (But also for any other interested readers.); February 7, 2011 at 11:22 AM